Red Eye Of Hatred
by Allura Solis
Summary: A new student arrives at Cross Academy, a girl named Asuka who bears silver hair, a dark past, forgotten memories, and a red eye that burns with her hatred. She wants something at the Academy, and seems desperate to get it, whatever it is. Can Zero and Yuki help Asuka get what she came for, or will her secrets and memories get in the way?
1. The New Girl

"_This rain… It's so cold… I'm… I'm all alone." Frigid rain beat down on me, plastering my near-white hair to my face. I gnashed my teeth and my eyes furiously burned when I saw the carnage before me. My friends… Were dead._

"Hey there!" A bubbly voice broke me away from my daydream. I glanced to my left at the owner of the voice, a tiny girl with brown hair and eyes that looked like I could crush her with one hand. "I don't think I've met you before. What's your name?" I shifted my gaze back out the window, where it was raining heavily.

Without the slightest change of emotion in my face, body, or tone, I replied, "My name is Asuka Kayo, and you're correct. We have never met before now. I'm new at Cross Academy."

"You're a new student? Well, then allow me to be your guide until you get used to it here! My name is-"

"You're Yuki Cross. I know," I interrupted the cheery girl, "And thanks for the offer, but your help won't be needed. I memorized the school's layout last weekend." When I had gone to visit the Headmaster of the school, he wouldn't shut up about 'his darling Yuki' and kept showing me pictures of her.

"Oh, um… Alrighty then. Let's head to class! You don't want to be late on your first day!" She paused and looked me over once again. "Hey, by the way… Why are you wearing the boys' uniform?"

I sighed, "It isn't a boy's outfit. I just modified the uniform to fit my needs. I can't function in a skirt. Don't worry, I already talked to Headmaster Cross, and it was fine with him." I turned away from Yuki and began to walk away. "Come on, Yuki. You don't want to be late!"

As we walked to class, Yuki rambled on and on about the things that the Disciplinary Committee does on a daily/nightly basis and I wasn't paying her the slightest amount of attention. After a while, she started describing the Night Class and the rabid fangirls she had to keep at bay every evening.

"Ugh…" I yawned, "I just don't get why people love those goddamned vampires. They're blood-sucking monsters that survive deceiving and feeding on humans!" I yawned again, completely ruining the seriousness of my words.

Yuki shuddered, "Oh boy, I think I know someone you'll get along with famously. Wait! You know about the Night Class?" I turned, but Yuki would have kept walking if I hadn't grabbed her hair and steered her back towards the door of the correct classroom.

"Our classroom is in here, Yuki."

Yuki giggled sheepishly, "Oh… Hehe… I knew that."

I took a seat on one of the wooden benches lined up in the room; more specifically, the one in the far back-right, away from the windows and in the darkest corner of the room, the way I like it. The way the desks and benches were laid out was quite smart: The room was at an incline, so every student was visible with a clear view of the presenter, and vice-versa. I plopped my head on the desk in front of me in an attempt to sleep. Before I could fall into blissful unconsciousness, however, someone else's voice broke into my mind. And no, it wasn't Yuki.

"You're sitting where I usually sit, girl." Some boy said. I didn't bother looking up at his face.

"That's nice. Just sit next to me."

"Why should I?"

"Because I'm not moving."

"And why won't you?"

"Because I like this spot."

"So do I."

"Then we'll share it."

"Who are you anyway?"

"My name is Asuka Kayo. I'm new here." Whoever this boy was, his rather arrogant, cold demeanor was getting on my nerves. Strangely enough, though, he actually stopped protesting against me sitting in 'his spot' and just sat down next to me.

Soon, I could hear Yuki yelling for me from somewhere else in the room, "Hey, Asuka, where'd you go?"

I lifted my arm in the air to signal where I was. "I'm over here, Yuki!" _You must be really unobservant to miss my hair…_ The clicking of Yuki's shoes signaled how far she was from me and whoever was sitting in the chair to my left.

"Oh! I wanted to introduce you to Zero, but I guess you've already met him… Hey, are you sleeping?" The vivacious girl poked my head repeatedly to see if I was awake.

I groaned, "Well, I was _trying_ to sleep, but this guy started complaining that I was in 'his seat', then someone else started poking at my head."

"So you are awake?"

"Well, I'm not sleeping, so what do you think?"

"I guess you have a point there. And Zero, you should be nicer to her. She's new, so you should let her sit with you," Yuki reprimanded the boy.

_Zero… I think I know that name…_ "I don't need kindness from anyone. As for the seating, I don't care who I sit with, as long as I sit somewhere I like."

Zero responded with a bit of a snap, "And _here_ had to be that place?"

"It's not my fault that I'm sensitive to light." I turned my head to glare at him, and I actually saw Zero's face. Silver hair, light violet eyes, pale skin… Something about him seemed familiar about him, and not just his name. Perhaps it was that our coloring was so similar, save for my right eye, which was reminiscent of the color of a cherry blossom, just somewhat darker; a delicate reddish-pink. The other eye was the same gray-violet as Zero's. My hair and skin were lighter as well. Against my knowledge at the time, Zero was analyzing my appearance in the exact same way, very similar thoughts dancing through his mind.

"Take a seat, students!" The teacher yelled as he walked to the front of the room. All the other students scampered away to sit with their friends, including Yuki. I tilted my up so I could see everyone. In a way, the place Zero and I shared was like a shadowy hawk's nest, a perfect vantage point to survey all the prey in the room. "Everyone pay attention please! We have a new student joining us today, so if you wouldn't mind coming up and introducing yourself, Miss, please tell us a bit about yourself." I stood up and casually walked to the front of the room. As I walked, the whispers of the other students echoed, quite loud to my ears.

_"Why is she dressed like a boy?" "Beats me."_ They commented on my clothing.

_"Look at her hair! It's almost white!"_ I knew my long, silvery-white hair wouldn't go unnoticed.

_"Check out her eyes! They're two different colors!" "Pretty bizarre, don't you think? And the colors themselves are strange."_ Clearly my even my eyes were an interesting topic to the shallow-minded students. As usual, I let no emotion so much as flicker across my face. When I reached the front of the room, I slowly turned and bowed to my classmates, despite how rude it seemed they were.

"Hello there, my new classmates. My name is Asuka Kayo. I was supposed to start school at the same time you all did, but I had… Important work to do that kept me away for a few months. In case you're wondering, I have no family. My mother and father died when I was three years old, I never had any siblings, and my foster family was also killed, so please don't ask me about my family in the future. Are there any questions?"

For a minute everyone seemed shocked at how blunt and to-the-point I had been in my introduction. I glanced at Yuki, whose brown eyes were wide from the mention of what happened to my family, and Zero's expression was quite similar. Eventually, one boy raised his voice, "You said 'important work' kept you from school. What does that mean?"

"Sorry, but I can't say."

"Why do you dye your hair white?" A girl piped up.

"My hair is naturally this color."

"What's up with your uniform?" Another girl asked.

"I got permission from the Headmaster to modify my uniform."

"Why is your skin so pale? Do you not go outside?" The students' questions flew at me faster and faster with each inquisition.

"I can't handle the sun well, so I mostly only go out at night."

"Why are your eyes two different colors?" My hand automatically flew up to cover my left eye, the eye that I hated.

"…The red eye is my mother's. Not literally, of course, but the color belongs to her. I was simply born with one eye from my mother. I'm done answering questions now." I walked back to my spot next to Zero, my palm still pressed to my dark cherry-blossom eye.

_This eye… It always reminds me of __**her**__… The woman that took the people I cared about from me!_


	2. Vampire Hunter

**Asuka**

The weekend came as a blessing: I could stay in my dorm all day and do whatever I chose, which usually consisted of sleeping. Sadly, my plans were interrupted by an increasingly familiar presence and loud knocks on the door, although it sounded more like whoever was on the other side was trying to break into my room.

"Hey! Open the door, Asuka!" I could hear Zero yell through the door. I unhappily groaned into my pillow. "Asuka, open up!" I would never be able to fall back asleep with him banging on the door like that, so I tried pretending I wasn't there. "I'm not stupid. Don't try hiding from me just because I can't see you!" Unfortunately, that idea didn't work.

I hauled myself out from under the covers and glanced at the clock. The hands on the timepiece read 3:46, the middle of the afternoon. Just as Zero was about to attack the door again, I flung it open with what I assume was a less-than-pleased expression. "What do you want, Zero?" Glaring, I asked curtly.

"Headmaster Cross wants to see you. Don't ask me why. I didn't bother-" He paused and actually looked at me, with my disheveled silvery hair, oversized t-shirt, and baggy sweatpants. "Were you just sleeping?"

"Yeah, I was. Do you know how goddamned early it is?"

He looked at me as if I were crazy. "Asuka, it's almost 4:00 in the afternoon!"

I glared back at him. "I know. I'm normally not awake right now, but since I am, I'll go talk to the Headmaster or whatever you just said." I shut the door forcefully so that I could change my clothes in private. I just grabbed whatever was closest to me, which was my uniform. When I had finished dressing, I whirled out the door and briskly walked down the hallway, leaving Zero back by my dorm.

"Where are you going?"

"You said the Headmaster wanted to talk to me, didn't you? I'm going to his office." Zero didn't speak anymore; he just caught up and followed behind me. The halls were quiet and mostly void of students, most of whom were probably out shopping in the nearby town.

I knocked on the double doors to the Headmaster's office, responded to with the man calling out, "Come in."

I respectfully asked him, "Did you wish to speak to me, Headmaster Cross?"

Immediately, the Headmaster started gushing, "That's right! My precious Yuki has been telling me all about you! She already really likes you, you know, and from what I've heard, you'd make a perfect new Guardian for the Academy! How would you like to join the Disciplinary Committee?"

"That's very kind of you, Headmaster," I said uncertainly, "But I've only been here for a week. I shouldn't get a position on the Disciplinary Committee just yet! What would the other members think?"

Zero answered, "Well, Yuki would probably love having you join. I don't really care, but we're way overworked with just the two of us, so it's fine with me if you join."

"Oh, I see. It's just you and Yuki on the Committee. I didn't even realize you two were on it." _I should have guessed they were on the Disciplinary Committee…_

"How did you not realize that? We're the ones pushing back the fangirls from the Night Class every day!" Zero declared in exasperation.

"I don't go try to watch the Night Class! I would never want anything to do with vampires like them!"

"And that's why you'd make a fantastic Guardian! You know about the Night Class already, so there's no problem letting you on," the Headmaster announced happily.

I sighed, "Alright, I'll join the Disciplinary Committee. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go get something in my stomach." With that, I left in search of breakfast.

**Zero**

_There's something strange about her… Why can't I put my finger on it? _"Are you sure it's a good idea to let her on the Disciplinary Committee? Asuka hasn't been here very long, and we don't know much about her."

"Don't worry, Zero," The Headmaster reassured me, "I'm sure Asuka will be absolutely fine. Besides, if anything does go wrong, you have your Bloody Rose gun."

"But it doesn't work on humans! That wouldn't do anything against her!"

"So you aren't worried about whether she's a vampire or not?" Headmaster Cross tilted his head in confusion. "I assumed you would have thought she has some connection to them, from what I heard from Yuki. Didn't Asuka say her biological family died and her foster family was killed, didn't she? By the sound of it, there were friends that she didn't mention who died as well. Doesn't that scream 'vampires' to you?"

I thought for a minute. "That may be, but I should be able to sense vampires, remember? Her presence isn't like that of one of those blood-sucking monsters in the Moon Dorms."

The Headmaster shrugged. "Well, if something does happen, I'm sure you'll be able to handle it. Now, run along, Zero. I have paperwork to do." Without further persuasion, I left.

**Asuka**

My small meal was bland and unappealing, and left my teeth and throat feeling as if they were coated with something gross. I wasn't even fully satisfied, but it would keep me alive for the time being. One of the nice things about eating in my dorm was that I had a sink right there to brush the residue off of my teeth, and no roommate meant no bothersome questions. It felt good to scrub my teeth and tongue free of the taste of my meal, replacing it with mint. Before I was finished, I heard knocking on my door again, but not as if someone was breaking in like Zero's 'knocking'. Seeing as I couldn't speak with a toothbrush in my mouth, I opened the door for my guest rather than calling for them to enter.

"Hi!" Yuki chirped, "Headmaster said you're on the Disciplinary Committee now!" I was still scrubbing my teeth, so I nodded in acknowledgement. "So, would you like to come get some ice cream in town with me before we have to patrol the grounds tonight?"

"Sounds fine," I mumbled, "But it's the weekend. Why do we still have to patrol?"

"Day Class girls are always up to something, Asuka. Can I come in while you finish getting ready to go?" I stepped aside to let Yuki into my room. She sat on my bed a bounced, making her look like a child. "So… Where's your roommate?"

"Don't have one." I rinsed the toothpaste out of my mouth in the sink. "Alright, we can go," I announced while shoving a small pill box into my pocket.

"What was that? That you just put in your pocket?" Yuki sounded suspicious of the tiny red-and-black box.

"It's just a box of aspirin," I replied, "I take them with me if I'm going outside for a while. As I said when I arrived here, I can't handle light very well and it gives me headaches." The response seemed to satisfy her, seeing as she sprung off of my mattress and bounded to the door.

"In that case, we'll sit inside if we can, okay?" Instead of words, I cast her a smile: The first smile I had shown at Cross Academy.

She reminded me of a dead friend.

It was sunset when we reached the Academy gates, and a blond boy blocked our path. His uniform was white, which I correctly assumed he was from the Night Class… A vampire.

"Hello there, ladies. Where might you two be off to tonight?" This guy's ice blue eyes wandered over Yuki and I in a way that I really didn't like. "Who's your friend, Yuki?" He sauntered over and touched my face, but I slapped his hand away.

"Hands off, vampire!" I snarled at him.

"Idol - I mean Aidou – Leave Asuka alone. You shouldn't even be out here since you don't have classes right now," Yuki tried to persuade the vampire, Aidou, to go away, but he refused to listen.

"But the Moon Dorms are so boring. I would much rather have fun with a pretty girl like this lovely lady. Well? Care to join me?"

"Never in a million years," I responded flatly.

Despite the fact that I was outright rejecting him, Aidou kept trying to flirt with me, "Come on, I'm a lot of fun! I wonder how your blood tastes… What's your blood type, sweetheart?" A loud crack resonated through the air around us. Aidou looked up in time to see a nearby tree on its way to the ground… And us.

"AIDOU! ASUKA! MOVE!" Yuki shrieked. Aidou did indeed leap backwards, but I did not, nor did I need to. The falling tree didn't hit me. Instead, it landed around an inch away from my face, not a scratch on me. "Asuka! Are you alright? You almost got crushed! Please tell me you're not hurt!" Yuki was in a complete state of panic, which nobody had done over me for over four years.

"I'm fine, Yuki," I responded calmly, "It didn't even touch me. You should be more worried about that vampire over there. I think he's pinned under a branch." Sure enough, the blond player was trapped under a tree limb, and seemed to be struggling to get it off. "Having a tough time there, vampire?"

"Oh, shut up."

"That's rude. Maybe I should just leave you there stuck under that tree. How does that sound?" Maybe being the bigger person wasn't worth it… Then again, you couldn't get much lower than someone like him.

"As if you could do anything…" It sounded as if he didn't believe that I could remove the branches that trapped him. They pinned his arms and legs to the ground, rendering him unable to move and quite humiliated. Mostly for my own benefit, I proved the vampire wrong by tearing the limbs off with ease. Not his, of course, the tree's. His facial expression was hilarious: A mixture of confusion, awe, frustration, and humiliation.

"Let's go, Yuki. Aidou will be fine." I dragged the other girl away from the gate back towards the school.

"Wait! We were going to get ice cream in celebration of you joining the Disciplinary Committee!" She protested and tried to turn me around.

"Let's do that tomorrow. It's getting late and all the shops will probably be closed by the time we get to town." I guided Yuki back to the Sun Dorms without further incident, save for her tripping because I was walking too fast. "Stay in your room until we have to patrol. I'll go tell the Headmaster about the tree."

The Headmaster arranged to have the fallen tree removed, after a fair amount of freaking out. I quickly left his office for the second time that day. I sighed to nobody in particular, "That man really needs to take a chill pill."

"Better get used to it, because Disciplinary Committee members have to deal with him a lot," said Zero's voice, suddenly next to me, "Let's go. It's patrol time, and I'll be orienting you, seeing as Yuki is pretty useless at it."

"Fine by me." I followed the silver-haired boy out of the building into the early night air. The moon was barely peeking over the treetops and the stars just beginning to shine. Remembering the time, I pulled out a small cell phone I kept with me and began to dial a number. "Zero, I need to make a quick phone call, alright? It won't take long."

"Go ahead. It's not like we're in class or anything."

The phone rang in my ear a few times before someone on the other end picked up. "Hello? Who's this?" A rough voice spoke through the receiver.

"Hey, Master. It's Asuka Kayo. I was told to give you a call."

"Oh, so you got that message? That's good. I wanted to let you know that I'll be delivering your order in around two days. Have you been keeping an eye on the vampires like I told you to?"

"Yes, I have. I'm on the Disciplinary Committee, so it shouldn't be too hard to do. It doesn't seem like they should be too hard to handle, but there is one vampire I'm worried about." I rather hoped Zero wasn't listening to my conversation, but I knew he could at least hear me.

"Is there an ex-human around?"

"That's right," I replied, "But this one isn't in the Night Class." It seemed like the air around me suddenly grew tense, and I knew my companion was tuning in to what I was saying. "This vampire is in the Day Class with the humans. His name is Zero." _Click. _"I've got to go, Master. I'll talk to you later." I ended the call and replaced the cell phone in my pocket.

I felt the cold barrel of a gun pressed to the back of my skull, ready to fire. "How did you know?" Zero's voice was filled with panic, but most would mistake it for hostility. "Who told you?"

"Nobody told me anything," I replied, "It's easy for me to tell if someone is a vampire. Did I forget to tell you? I'm from the Vampire Hunter Association, and as I'm sure you know, hunters are usually quite adept at distinguishing humans from vampires."


	3. Her Bite Is Worse Than Her Bark

**Zero**

_Asuka is a Vampire Hunter? She couldn't be!_ "You're lying! I would have been told if the Association was sending another Hunter!"

Asuka laughed at me, "Don't be ridiculous, Zero. I came here because I wanted to. Nobody sent me anywhere."

"Who were you just talking to over the phone?"

"That was my Master."

"What were you talking about?"

"That's none of your business, Zero," she snapped, "Can we get on with this patrol already? Asking these questions will get you nowhere." Calmly, Asuka walked on towards the trees without waiting for a response.

**Asuka**

Even before I was interrogated at gunpoint, I was in a pretty foul mood. Not to complain, but the remaining sunlight was giving me a horrible migraine, I was already hungry again, and my throat was as dry as the Taklimakan Desert. I could tell that Zero wasn't following me, but I didn't really care at the moment. Pushing up the sleeve of my jacket, I pulled off the metal cuff I kept hidden beneath my sleeve. Undoing the lock, I examined the tattoo that adorned my right wrist. The once dark grey-purple outline resembled a knot made of spider webs decorated with cherry blossoms. At a quick glance, it would look pretty normal, but upon closer inspection, the mark appeared faded and cracked, unlike its dark, strong original appearance. Scowling, I sighed discontentedly, "It looks like I won't last much longer. Maybe I should just end it now…"

"I hope you aren't talking about your life, sweetheart. That would be quite a shame," a disgustingly sweet voice crooned from the shadows. I recognized it immediately as that annoying Aidou guy. My head snapped in the direction of his voice to see him leaning comfortably against a tree with an arrogant smirk plastered on his face. "Have you changed your mind about earlier? I really would like to spend some time with a pretty girl like you, Asuka."

I glared at the blond vampire angrily. "Go back to class now, Hanabusa Aidou. I don't want to have to use violence." In reality, I already hated this boy so much I wanted to pummel him into the ground, but I was forbidden from doing so without a good reason.

"That's so nice of you to say! You don't want to hurt me, do you?"

"I just don't want to bother using the energy to knock you out and drag you to the Headmaster," I replied semi-truthfully. I laughed internally at the dismay spreading across Aidou's face.

"Asuka! Where the hell did you go?!" I heard Zero yelling for me from the direction I had come from. I attempted to answer, but Aidou's hand clamped over my mouth before I could speak. I tried to jerk away, but I was held fast in my spot by the persistent vampire.

"How many times will you make me ask this? Don't you want to come have some fun with me?" Still unable to speak, I gave Aidou a perfectly clear response: My teeth buried deep in his hand. "Ow! That hurts!" the surprised Aristocrat yelped, "Stop biting me!" Seeing as he clearly more interested in getting my teeth out of his flesh than flirting, I released him and spat out the blood that had seeped into my mouth.

_Blood?_ The wounds I had left were deeper than I had intended, and bleeding profusely. I accidentally swallowed, ingesting a large gulp of the red liquid. The taste of copper and iron permeated my mouth, and I desperately tried to rid myself of it, but to no avail. Despite spitting out everything until my mouth was dry and rubbing away anything I could, the taste of Aidou's blood stuck with me.

Signaled by the Aristocrat's startled shrieks, and probably the scent of blood, the only vampire I've ever found tolerable burst into the scene. "_What the hell is going on?!"_ he yelled angrily. Note: Make that the only vampire I've ever found tolerable who was very, very pissed off. "Asuka, first you run off, then the next thing I know, the scent of blood is everywhere!" Zero tilted my head around and peered at my neck, trying to locate a set of incisions. Confused, he asked, "Didn't that damned vampire bite you?" Zero spoke as if he wasn't one of the said creatures.

I shook my head, "No. I bit him. He wouldn't let me go." Both of us cast a glance over at Aidou, who was attempting to find a way to stop the bleeding from his hand, but whatever he did, it wasn't working. The ground beneath him was getting redder and slicker by the second. I forced myself to look away, whipping my head in the other direction. Quickly, I walked in the direction of the girl's dormitories.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I need to wash my mouth out," I told Zero, "I accidentally drank some of Aidou's blood. It was horrible."

The blond vampire let out an indignant squeak, "Hey!" Zero gave me a dismissive wave, wordlessly telling me to do what I felt I had to. Picking my way through the trees, I left my partner to deal with the unruly vampire. The _other_ unruly vampire.

In the confines of my room, I had managed to rinse most of the metallic taste from my mouth, but there was still a hint of it left. I flopped down on my bed, no roommate to bother me, running my fingertips over my teeth. They no longer felt grimy or covered in film. Everything was sharp; the moonlight from the window; the lingering scent of blood on my breath; the sound of a girl on the floor above me snoring. Even more importantly, I no longer felt tired or sick. I was, cliché as it sounds, feeling better than I had in years. There were two words to describe this:

**NOT. GOOD.**

_Author's Note: You have no idea how sorry I am about how late this chapter is. I have almost literally been slamming my head on my desk in frustration that it wasn't done. But now it is, so I can avoid any Writer's Self-Mutilations, for this story, anyway. I still have __An Alchemist's Masquerade__, __Blue Butler__ and __Hikari, The World's New Light__ to update on top of high school. In any case, please leave a comment for me if there is anything you would like to say, or you can PM me. I love hearing what you have to say!_


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